One year after launching the 2030 Challenge for Products, Architecture 2030 announced that sustainability pioneer InterfaceFlor has become the first product manufacturer to commit to the ambitious carbon-reduction goals of the program.

The 2030 Challenge for Products aims to reduce the carbon footprint of building materials by targeting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from manufacturing and transportation. The program sets carbon-reduction goals of 30% below the product category average by 2014, and subsequent improvements to reach 35% reductions in 2015, 40% in 2020, 45% in 2025, and 50% by 2030.

The announcement about InterfaceFlor’s commitment isn’t surprising. The company’s late founder Ray Anderson set the company on a visionary path in 1994 when he committed InterfaceFlor to climbing what he called “Mount Sustainability,” transforming the carpet tile manufacturer into a global leader. Anderson became an icon, and his company continues to achieve new levels of sustainability striving toward its own ambitious goals; and it was an early adopter of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) that are part of the 2030 Challenge for Products documentation requirements.

“The raw resource extraction, manufacturing, construction, usage, and end-of-life stages of building products each generate significant greenhouse gas emissions,” says Architecture 2030 founder and Vision 2020 chair Edward Mazria. Slowing the growth rate of GHG emissions and then reversing it is the key to addressing climate change.”